Archery set



J. O. LOWELL Jan. 9, 1940.

ARCHERY SET- Filed June 10; 19:7

Patented Jan. 9, 1940 unrrao STATES PATENT OFFICE This inventionpertains to archery sets in- -eluding a bow and one or more arrows.

The modern archery set may be used either as a weapon in hunting or asan implement of sport 5 as in archery contests. In either use thesuccess depends'as much upon the characteristics of the set as upon theskill of the archer. Although, since the dawn of history a great deal ofskill has been expended upon the development of the archery set, eventoday modern bows and arrows are subject to many faults. It is aprimaryobject of this invention therefore, to improve the constructionand characteristics. generally of both bows and arrows. A moreparticular object is to provide an are row having a greater range offlight and increased. accuracy. 1 Another object is to provide a bowhaving improved qualities of resiliency and greater accuracy inlaunching the arrow upon a straight line of flight, 'Another object isto provide an arrow with adjustable means to regulate its flight and tocompensate for the effect of wind and the like. Further objects willappear from the following description taken in connection with theaccom- .-panying drawing, in which:

Figure lis a partial sectional view of a bow constructed inaccordancewith this invention. to Figure '2 is a side view of Figure IFigure 3 is a view, to a reduced sca1e, of the complete bow,

Figure 41s a side viewof an arrow embodying features of this invention,up

Figure 5 is a front view'of the arrow'of Figure 4, and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view, similar to Figure 1, illustratinganother embodiment of this invention. v v f to In the early days ofarchery bows were invariably made of wood. Accordingly, theircharacteristics as to strength and resiliency "were limited by thecharacteristics of the material of which they were constructed. In moremodern 45 times bows of metal such as steel have been used. Inaccordance with this invention the bow is not only constructed of metalsuch as steel having a high degreeof resiliency, but the arms thereofwhich provide the resilient force which-propels the arrow are madehollow. These arms are preferably constructed'of tubular steel of a highquality and are preferably tapered from the middle portion of the bow tothe tips of the arms, although tubulararms of constant cross section arealso provided in accordance with this inven- Another characteristic ofsuch a tubular steel tion and furnish a bow possessing improvedcharacteristics.

Asevery archer knows the pulling characteristics of a bow are extremelyimportant in I archery. These pulling characteristics involve 5 suchfeatures as the amount of force required to bend the'bow, the rate atwhich this .force increases as the deflection is increased, the vigor orlife with which the bow returns to its unbent condition when the bowstring is released, the 10' manner in which the resilient force of thebow is imparted to the arrow, the initial tension on the bow string andmany others.

ing the arms of the bow of resilient tubular metal By constructsuch assteel practically all these characteristics are improved.

It appears that in a bow of solid material, whether wood or metal,thebending of the bow places the various portions of its cross sectionunder stress to varying extent. The fibers on-20 the front or outersurface of the how are placed qualities or 1 under heavy tension, whilethese fibers on the rear or inner surface thereof are placed undercorresponding compression. The intermediate fibers are placed undervarying stress which may 26 have any value from the maximum tension ofthe outer fibers to the maximum compression of the inner fibers. Whenthe'bow-is bent there is naturally relative movement of one fiber uponanother in order to accommodate the deformation. 30

This'is [in the nature of a friction drag upon the power of the bow.

In a tubular bow on the other hand these in- 40 termediate fibersareabsent and the drag efiect thereof is also absent. Accordingly, atubular bow will show a livelier return than a solid bow or, as thearcher usually expresses it, there is more life in. the tubular bow.

bow is that it may be bent further than a solid bow and still retain itslife or lively comeback. Consequently the bow may be so proportioned asto have the required pounds pull at a greaterxfio deflection thantheordinary bow. This has a twofold advantage in that, first, the maximumfriction bearing such as the ball-bearing ii. the cheapertypes of bowswhere the roller con- .structed oftubular metal such as steel.

the bow string in launching the arrow is greater with the same pull sothat more energy is delivered to the arrow for its flight.

Referring to the drawing the bow illustrated in Figure l is providedwith a middle handle portion which may have a main support I and twoferrules 2 extending in opposite directions therefrom. The support 5 maybe formed by casting or forging or otherwise out of any suitable metalsuch as steel or aluminum and may be provided wtih reduced portions 3upon which the ferrules 2 are mounted as shown in Fig ure 1. Theseferrules may be secured to the support by brazing or in any othersuitable manner. Upper and lower arms i and 5 respectively are fittedinto the ferrules 2. These arms may be notched at their inner ends so asto engage key extensions 6 on the support I in order properly to'orientthe arms with respect to the handle portion. The arms 4 and 5 areconstructed of tubular metal such as steel and are preferably formedcylindrical at those portions which fit into the ferrules 2, andtapering beyond those portions to-the tips of the bow. These arms may bepermanently secured in the ferrules but it is preferably that one ofthem, usually the upper arm 4, be left unsecured so that it may bedismounted in order to reduce the length of the bow for the sake ofportability.

The middle of the support l is formed to provide an open frame portionor window l through which the arrow may be launched. Mounted within thiswindow in any suitable manner upon anaxis 8 is an aiming support in theform of a roller E. This roller is grooved as indicated at l!) so as toreceive and support the arrow while aiming andto provide a substantiallyfrictionless sup-port therefor when launched. The roller in may bemounted upon any suitable type of antistruction would be too expensive afixed aiming support -l2 as shown in Figure 6 may be provided.

The arrow illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 comprises a shaft l3 and a headM. The shaft [3 may beconstructedof any suitable material such asstraightgrained wood, but it is preferably con- Theheacl It will vary.intype and construction in accordance with the use to which the arrowis to be put, whether for hunting or target shooting.

Mounted on the shaft l3 is an airfoil 25 in the form of a substantiallyplane sheet of any suitable material such as cardboard, Celluloid,

sheet-metal or the like. The airfoil i5 is arranged to extendhorizontally during the flight of the arrow and may have any desiredshape, except that it must beproportioned with respect to theconstruction of the bow so that it will readily pass through the window'1. This portionof the bow upon the other hand may also be proportionedto suit the arrow. That is the open frame portion 7 maybe made anydesired size so as to ac commodate an airfoil l5 of any desired design.

The airfoil i5 is preferably secured to the shaft IS in such a mannerthat-it may be adjusted in an angular relation to said shaft. For thispurpose it may be'secured to the shaft in any suitable manner at itsrear as indicated at l6 and in such a position as normally to-extendforwardly =at an angle away from the shaft it, as indicated in Figure 4.When so mounted a holding down device such as screw l1 threaded into theshaft I3 is arranged-t bear upon the airfoil It so as to force it downagainst the shaft. By loosening or tightening this screw I! the air foilmay then be adjusted to any desired angle with respect to the shaft. Bythis adjustment of the angle of the airfoil the flight of the arrow maybe controlled as to distance as this airfoil functions to support thearrow when in flight in a manner similar to the action of an aeroplanewing, and its angular adjustment will determine the amount of verticallifting action which the airfoil exerts upon the arrow.

Mounted at the rear of the shaft 13 is a second airfoil 58 providing arudder. This rudder is mounted to stand vertically above the shaft l3and it is preferably secured at its foremost point as indicated at If?to the shaft. This rudder is also proportioned so that it will passfreely through the window l on the bow. Means for adjusting the'rudderl8 laterally as to its angle with respect to the shaft is may also beprovided. For this purpose a plate 20 may be mounted on the shaft iii-toextend horizontally and provided with a series of perforations 2ilocated in a laterally extending arc and the rear end of the rudder maythenbe provided with a downwardly extending pin 22 which may be set inany selected one ofthe perforations ill in order to fix the angularposition of the rudder. This angular adjust- .ment of the rudderprovides for controlling the flight of the arrow in a horizontaldirection. For instance by adjusting the rudder to an angle the effectof a cross wind acting upon the arrow during its flight may becompensated for.

t will be seen that this invention provides an archery set of novelconstruction, capable of greatly improved performance. The provision ofthe window 1 permits the arrow to travel in the plane of movement of thebow string so that there is no tendency for the bow string to deviatethe arrow at the moment of launching. The aiming support is located inthis same plane. The airfoil mounted on the arrow provides for a controlof the flight of the arrow which has been impossible heretofore. Theconstruction of the bow of tubular spring metal such as steel greatlyimproves the lively action or life of the bow and increases its power. I

While, in the above description, a certain theory of action of thetubular steel bow has been indicated, it is to be understood that thisis for the sake of clarity in explanation, and

that applicant is not bound by any particular theory of action used inexplaining the invention.

While this invention has been described as embodied in a unitary set itwill be understood that individual features or sub-combinations I pendedclaims.

It is obvious that various changes may be made, within'the scope of theappended claims,

in the details of construction without departing from the spirit of thisinvention; it is understood, therefore, that the invention is notlimited to the specificdetails shown or described.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed'is:

1. In anarchery set of the character described;

in combination with an arrow having a shaft provided with a bow-strinnotch. at its rear end, a weight-sustaining airfoil of sufficienthorizontal extent toexert a lifting moment on the forward part of thearrow in flight secured to 2,186,836 r the forward portion of said shaftsubstantially at zontal extent to exert a lifting moment on the rightangles to said notch and. a vertically posi-' tioned guiding vane 0n the,rear. portion of said I,

shaft, a long-bow having a central window through which said arrow maybe discharged, and a low-friction aiming'support in said window, saidWindow having a lateral width above said support and a vertical heightabove saidsupport to freely clear said airfoil and said vane- -2. In anarchery set of the character described; in combination with an arrowhaving a shaft provided with a bow-string notch at its rear end, aweight-sustaining airfoil of sufficient horiforward part of the arrow inflight secured to the forward portion of said shaft substantially atright angles to said notch; a long-bow having a central window throughwhich said arrow may be discharged, and a low-friction aiming support insaid window, said window having a lateral width above said supportsufficient to freely clear said airfoil.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 1 having means for adjusting theangle of inclination of said airfoil tosaid shaft. 3

. 7 JOHN o. LOWELL.

